Fairs earns conference honors

For the second consecutive week, USF volleyballs productive freshman was honored by the Big East conference.

A week after she was named the Big East freshman of the week for back-to-back double-doubles in a weekend sweep of Villanova and Georgetown, outside hitter Erin Fairs was named to the Big East weekly honor roll for two more double-doubles, against Connecticut and St. Johns.

It was Fairs third time being awarded by the conference in her breakout freshman season. The Texas native is second on the team with 224 kills while also ranking third in digs, showing a versatility that has allowed her to play minutes in her first year with the Bulls.

Fairs and the Bulls who are in seventh place in the Big East and on pace to make the conference tournament after missing out in 2011 look to help their conference placement this weekend when they play at DePaul and Notre Dame on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

The mens squad will host 10 out-of-conference games this season, headlined by the teams home opener against the UCF Knights on Nov. 10 at 7 p.m., along with a visit from the Georgia Bulldogs on Nov. 30. The womens team schedule is highlighted by visits from Florida Gulf Coast which made the NCAA Tournament a season ago and Big 12 contender Nebraska.

Interested fans can purchase tickets at www.gousfbulls.com or by calling 1-800-GOBULLS.

Womens tennis finishes regional runThough womens college tennis was still being played at the USF varsity tennis courts, there were no members of the USF womens tennis team on the courts Monday.

Katie Vasenina, who was the last member of the team still playing in the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional, ended her run in the quarterfinals with a 6-0, 6-3 loss to Sofie Oyen of the University of Florida.

It was a lot closer than the score says, coach Agustin Moreno said. There were some tough points and she missed a couple easy shots, and then it just got harder and harder mentally.

Vasenina said she appreciates the experience of playing in the regionals, and that it will help her for the upcoming season in the spring.

I have a lot of things that I can learn from my singles matches, she said. This will just help me improve a lot before the season.